My refurbished wreath!

I had bought a couple of picks last year on clearance in the fall but the wreath and the birds nest I just found in my basement. I really wanted to buy a nice full boxwood wreath for our door but I just can't justify spending more money on a wreath this year. So I used my honeysuckle wreath and just wired the greenery picks and the birds nest. I may add more to it later. But call me "crazy" I just couldn't bare to see our front door with no wreath on it. I told my friend that I felt like our house was so abandoned on the outside! Maybe it's just that I'm ready to see our landscaping pretty and green but right now everything is still dormant. I guess if a wreath on my door makes me smile when I pull into our house then that's time well spent putting it together! Ha! :) Amy

Emma and her BFF!

These girls have become what you might call BFF'S. :) I've never seen them argue about anything. The girls had a lot of fun at Victoria's 4th Birthday party at Happy Joe's.

Emma, The Baker.

Emma and I have been baking snacks to take to our church on Sunday mornings for the fellowship after church. Emma has really become excited about it. Every Sat. she now asks, "What are we going to bake this week?" as soon as she wakes up. She is learning about the importance of measuring all the ingredients. She loves to sit on top of the kitchen counter. But as you can tell it is very serious business to her. I asked her to look at the camera and she said she couldn't because she was afraid she would mess up the recipe! :) It's now very nice to have an assistant in the kitchen. Have a good week.
~Amy

Our updated blog is finished!!!

I am so lucky I have a very talented computer savy husband. Thank you Mario, I know you spent a lot of time on the design! Because the description I tried to give was that I wanted pictures of the kids around our name and I wanted the template a little different. And I took a picture of a painted antique tray I had that I wanted him to use as our background. That's all I gave him to work with and then he just designed this. He put the tray picture in photoshop and made it look like fabric. I like it because it is original. It was my late Valentine's present since we were all so sick last week! I love seeing the kids pictures at the top as soon as I get on the blog. Thank you Mario I LOVE it! ~Amy

Our blog is under construction!!!

Please excuse our mess. We are changing the way our blog looks. SO this is our temporary wallpaper until Mario finishes the new template design and look! I'm really excited about the changes. We wanted to do something new for a while but just haven't had the time! In the meantime you might see crazy things like the square post! Please check back in a couple of days to see our new look! Amy

Talk about being sick...

Our family has been very blessed to have all stayed healthy this season, until this week. Ethan came down with the stomach virus first on Monday night so I was up with him most of the night. Then Mario got hit with it Wednesday morning and Emma and I that evening. This virus had no mercy on our body. But luckily it was just a 24 hr thing and we are all on our way to recovery. But Ethan has this amazing amount of energy now since he is 110% back to normal while the rest of us are only at about 40%. It's like he ate a whole candy store and more. I've never seen him this excited he just bounces off the walls. I think it's because his body feels so rested since he slept all day Tuesday. He wanted to play Candyland yesterday but for some reason the game just wouldn't end. I played until I just couldn't keep my eyes open and finally just called Ethan the winner which made him happy. Then put a movie in so Mario, Emma and I could take a nap. And today he is in the same mood. Except Emma is not ready for his energy just yet either. So she just cries and screams as loud as she can and calls for mommy every time he starts bothering her. In his defence he just wants her to play but she is still just exhausted. I decided to put his energy to good use and have him help do laundry and load the dishwasher. We went to the grocery store this afternoon and I bought a book with different children songs that included a keyboard that was on clearance for $6 just so I could keep my sanity! There was only one of it's kind at the store and it has only songs about Jesus in it. I truly think God answered my prayers and he knew Ethan needed something to hold his attention long enough for the rest of us to feel better. He is playing the keyboard following the numbers in the book right now and Emma is about to fall asleep. Ah, Ah- Thank goodness! I'm off to clean and disinfect our house. Have a nice weekend! ~Amy

Our Sledding Fun!

Ethan is sledding down this BIG hill where we went sledding today. If you look closely you can see him coming towards me. The kids had a blast.

Emma and her friend Victoria standing outside the lodge where we ate lunch and then heading to the hill to do some sledding.

Ethan is on the right helping his friend get into our sled.

Emma and Ethan had so much fun with their friends. We were invited with our home school group to eat lunch at our local lodge and then go sledding. We roasted marshmallows inside by a big fire place after we ate our lunch and then we played outside. The temp was perfect at 37 degrees. It felt so warm in the nice bright sunshine! The snow is FINALLY melting so it made the hill very sleek and perfect to sled down! I never went sledding as a child in Oklahoma. But we are trying to make the best of our home here in Iowa. It has been so cold lately that just going to the grocery store was such a nightmare. You have to really bundle up when the actual temp is -20! Emma and I really want to go ice skating together. There is an outdoor ice rink in the park by our house. So I am going to start looking for cheap ice skates for the family so maybe next year we can start enjoying a little ice skating. And next week we are thinking about going skiing in Galena. Galena, Illinois is this old town with a lot of history. The downtown is full of neat architecture with over 100 boutique shops. It has a lot of history because it was home to many civil war generals and our 18th president. We have been there twice and it was so much fun. If you live close, it is definitely worth the trip! Have a good week we are going to take advantage of the warmer weather and go sledding again today! ~Amy

Our new finds...

Our friend Bonnie gave us this neat antique violin. Unfortionately it can not be refurbished so I found a home for it in our study. I think it looks neat on our bookcase! Thanks Bonnie!

We bought this stained glass a few months ago and I thought I would share it. A man makes the stained glass in Ohio and sells them all over the country. We think it really makes a statement when the sun is shining through it and the reds, yellow and black just come alive. Plus now we can have our window open and not see into our neighbor’s house! :) She's a great neighbor but it's all about a little privacy.